"Entourage" Guys To Stop Hanging Out on HBO After Eight Seasons

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As the now-familiar members of the "Entourage" cast worked their way down the red carpet on the Paramount lot Wednesday night to officially open season 7, talk focused on the show's final year and the inevitable movie follow-up

The news that season eight of the show would be the last has been floating around for a while, but series creator Doug Ellin reconfirmed it to EW.com. "I think we've got 20 more seasons in us," Ellin said. "But we're not going to do that."

The more important task is breathing renewed life into the series which lost some of its magic at the end of season 6. From the sneak-preview episodes viewed on Wednesday night, that magic is back in a big way.

But eight would seem to be a good number to stop, keeping the familiar characters from heading into that disturbing "Friends" cycle of stunted emotional growth. If the Vince, Drama and company were still hanging out at the pool together well beyond that, it would start getting pretty sad.

Following their HBO compatriots at "Sex in the City," the "Entourage" crew will then shoot their sites on the big screen. Ellin said he was too busy to think about the movie at this point, but added that he'll focus on executive producer Mark Wahlberg's vision soon enough.

“Mark’s going to kill me if I don’t write it," said Ellin. "Everybody wants it, and we’ve got to make a plan for it.”

Wahlberg makes a cameo appearance this season alongside Sean "Diddy" Combs. Both will play themselves, popping up on a golf course scene where Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) will attempt to bring them on as investors for his company.